Whiteout conditions near the Unalaska airport. (Lauren Rosenthal/KUCB)
Unalaska’s White Christmas has come a day too late. A winter storm is heading through town, bringing gale-force winds and freezing temperatures. It’s expected to drop about four inches of snow on Wednesday, on top of the slush that accumulated throughout Christmas day.
The Department of Public Safety has issued a category one travel advisory this morning due to the slippery roads and blowing snow. Drivers should use headlights, and public safety director Jamie Sunderland says truck-trailers are authorized to use chains. That’s in accordance with a new ordinance approved this May, which prohibits truck drivers from using chains unless the city gives them permission to do so on bad-weather days.
For the second time in three years, one of Unalaska’s schools has been nominated for the National Blue Ribbon award. In 2010, it was Unalaska City School. This time, it’s Eagle’s View Elementary School. Superintendent John Conwell says it’s no surprise that Unalaska’s schools are eligible for recognition as being among the nation’s best.
“We’ve been, I believe, in the top three performing school districts in the state for several years now.”
The Blue Ribbon award takes into account student scores on statewide assessments, as well as community involvement with the school, teaching methodology, and the school’s non-core curriculum. Alaska can nominate just three schools a year -- and schools can only receive the award once every five years
After two months of votes and debates, city council has approved $202,000 in grants for an extensive renovation at the Museum of the Aleutians. But a separate plan to pay off the grant using funds for tourism and cultural projects failed.
That means that the grant will be paid from the general fund. And typically, nonprofits don’t receive money from the general fund outside the regular nonprofit funding cycle. When Council considered the grant as part of a budget package last month, it failed by a 3-1 vote, since four votes are needed to approve any legislation. Councilor Zac Schasteen, who cast the “no” vote, said he couldn’t support the grant as long as the city faced expensive capital projects.
The biggest demand for water in Unalaska hits during the winter months, when groundwater is frozen and fish processors are at their busiest. At those times, the city’s water supply can fall short of demand by as many as 4 million gallons.
Last night, city council starting considering short-term solutions to those shortages, along with some costly new wells to permanently boost the water supply.
For months, Unalaska’s city council has been debating the best way to pay off more than $40 million in upgrades to its utilities. Sales tax hikes and rate increases have both been floated as solutions.
But now, the city’s consultant says the 65 percent rate increase that he described as inevitable as recently as October might not be necessary after all.
That’s what Mike Hubbard, of the Financial Engineering Company, told city council at a special meeting last Wednesday. Hubbard says he knows that the announcement was unexpected.
More shoppers than ever before attended Black Friday sales this year -- but not in Unalaska, where there are no big box stores or shopping malls. Still, residents managed to find great deals the morning after Thanksgiving. KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal has the story.
Two people passed away in Unalaska last week. Right now, the Department of Public Safety is investigating the death of Yvonne Grossman, age 45.
Grossman was found Friday afternoon in the cabover camper she shared with her boyfriend in the valley. Sgt. Jennifer Shockley says Grossman’s boyfriend called public safety at around 3 p.m. to report the death.
"We don’t at this point have any reason, specifically, to suspect any foul play," Shockley says. "But neither do we have a cause of death yet."
A nasty storm has already wreaked some havoc in Unalaska.
Rough winds knocked a trailer owned by Alaska Mechanical on its side. The trailer is located by the city landfill, and the extent of the damage is unclear.
The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for Unalaska on Tuesday morning. They say residents should expected 55-mile per hour southwest winds, with gusts to 80 miles per hour. The travel advisory is scheduled to expire at midnight.
A mechanical failure caused a truck to roll into the Carl E. Moses Small Boat Harbor on Monday. No injuries resulted.
Troy Gibson had just finished lunch and was coming back to the St. Dominic, the cod boat that he captains. When he went to park the crew’s Toyota pickup truck, the brakes gave out. Gibson knew to get out of the car as quickly, even though he had to interrupt a phone call with his spouse.
